The U.S. and Russia have said they still back a political solution to Syria’s war, even as the deepening crisis underscores the gulf between them as rebels press further into the regime’s heartland, The Financial Times reported Monday, December 10. After talks in Geneva on Sunday, Mikhail Bogdanov, Russia’s deputy foreign minister, and William Burns, his U.S. counterpart, said the situation in Syria was “bad and getting worse”, but insisted a political process was “still necessary and still possible”. The conciliatory words failed to mask the continuing bitter international divisions over Syria, with Russia rejecting any pressure on President Bashar Assad to stand aside. The joint statement – co-authored with Lakhdar Brahimi, U.N. peace envoy – came as rebel forces over-ran a military base near Syria’s biggest city of Aleppo and nine judges and prosecutors apparently defected from Assad’s regime.